Agricultural Bank is exceedingly

The Agricultural Bank is

exceedingly useful in encouraging agriculture. In a very short space

of time it has so extended the number of its operations and the amount of its

capital as to have gained a high rank among institutions of the kind.

Year. Operations in francs.          Difference.

1899      493,759,18721  21,989,64202

1900      507,307,50260

+ X3,548,3X5’39

1901      535,575,I8203

+ 28,267,67943

1902      827,690,47723

+ 292,115,29520

1903      972,538,557’22

+ 144,848,079*99

Although the object of the Agricultural

Bank is to assist the agricultural classes, it deals with merchants and

manufacturers, as can be seen from the following table showing the securities

held by the bank distributed between agriculturists and no agriculturists:

Year.     Fn.         Agriculturists.    Frt.         Nonugricnltnrists.

1899      349,377                54,823,95570     12,410   5,943,59660

1900      282,161                56,628,82280     13,470   6,140,51910

1901      395,320                57,321,66861     14,905   6,385,34305

1902      296,966                54,408,96926     15,837   6,335,60552

1903      274,601                50,403,78613     15,173   6,273,86145

HANDICRAFTS

Up to the time of our national

emancipation, agriculture and small handicrafts had always been the sole

resource of the Bulgarian people. With widespread poverty, few practicable

roads, and an apathetic Government, until the time of which we speak, all the

circumstances combined to condemn such few attempts at industrial enterprise as

were made to failure.

Let us first explain what we mean by the

word “ handicraft’. In Bulgaria any permanent occupation is called “

handicraft.” An “ artisan ” is a man who devotes his time to one of these

handicrafts, either by himself or in company with his workmen and apprentices.

In order to become a master, one must have been both apprentice and workman,

and have brought one’s craftsmanship to a certain degree of perfection,

attested by a regular certificate. Every craft is represented by a guild which

formulates all the rules concerning the exercise of its business. For the last

twenty five years the handicrafts have been declining, and at present it is

only in a few out of the way places that they preserve their original

character. The reason for this is that, directly after our political

emancipation, the influence of West European capitalistic production made

itself felt. On the one hand, the large estates in the country were being

divided in consequence of the disappearance of large patriarchal families, and

the population of the towns was rapidly increasing. On the other, in conformity

with the spirit of the constitution, Bulgaria was declared open for trading

purposes. Foreign products also came in, and social life was completely

changed, in part by the new political regime and the new administrative

organisation. In fact, requirements increased to such an extent that the

population chiefly occupied in small handicrafts or with agriculture could no

longer cope with the fresh expenses of the State, the less so as these weighed

heavily on farmers and artisans. For this reason, many of the latter shut up

shop and departed to seek their living elsewhere.